Tanja Hirvonen
Chief Executive Officer; Board Member
Thirrili; Australian Indigenous Psychologists Association
BPsychSc, BBus(HRM), BPscyhScH, MPsych(Clin)
A proud Jaru and Bunuba woman (Kimberley, Western Australia), born and raised on the lands of the Kalkadoon people – Mount Isa, Queensland. Tanja is a clinical psychologist and mid-career researcher with expertise in mental health, social and emotional wellbeing, suicide prevention and working with persons impacted by trauma, and workplaces who are bringing cultural and clinical knowledge together.
She brings a combination of academic research, corporate expertise, and clinical experience working with remote and regional communities, as well as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being, and doing, to her role as a Board Director at the Black Dog Institute and the Australian Indigenous Psychologists Association (AIPA). She is an advocate for increasing the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing practitioners in Australia, as well as for upskilling mainstream organisations to understand how to provide culturally appropriate social and emotional wellbeing care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and individuals.
Tanja is the interim CEO for Thirrili. She has contributed to the development and delivery of culturally appropriate training and interventions for people impacted by systemic racism and trauma for the Aboriginal Medical Service Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT), and worked with Centre for Remote Health (CRH) as the mental health academic for several years.
Tanja is a member of several research projects and is also a member of the Healing the Past, Nurturing the Future research team at the University of Melbourne. Tanja maintains a fractional academic position within the School of Psychology at the University of Sydney.
SESSIONS
Day 2
9:50
Panel: Unpacking What it Means to be a Culturally Responsive and Safe Workplace
Explore how to embed cultural safety into policies, behaviours and systems where First Nations women’s voices are heard and respected
Unpacking what will make the biggest differences for First Nations women to feel culturally safe and empowered to thrive in workplaces
Lessons learned from implementing RAPs: How to develop these as strategic imperatives, and how accountability is embedded across leadership and operations
Moderator: Belinda Cashman PSM, Director Aboriginal Health Strategy, Western Sydney Local Health District
Amanda Maitland-Smith, Director Campus Establishment Projects & First Nations Co-Chair, Reconciliation Action Plan Committee, Bendigo Kangan Institute
Belinda Murdoch, Group Manager First Nations Engagement, Qantas
Tanja Hirvonen, Chief Executive Officer, Thirrili; Board Member, Australian Indigenous Psychologists Association